Trouble with Counting those Stimulus Jobs.
The government's first accounting of jobs "created or saved" by President Obama's 787 billion dollar stimulus program seems to be off more than just a little when held up to scrutiny.
The count of 30,000 such jobs paid for with stimulus money overcounts by at least 5,000 - according to The Associated Press, which reviewed a sample of the stimulus contracts.
"We found instances of the same job being counted two, three, four, five, six times - the same job being counted, over and over again," said Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer.
Matt Apuzzo is one of the AP reporters who worked on the story. He says some counts were more than ten times the real number.
"We found one instance where it was 20 jobs were created for this project - but because there were eight job orders, it came in as 160 jobs. Well, that's obviously not right..." said Matt Apuzzo.
The government report only covers a small part of the stimulus effort, and The AP only looked at a relatively small sample of that.
"The overstated jobs in question really only represent a small amount of the overall economy. But they do represent a big percentage of the initial count that is accredited to the stimulus program," said Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large at CBS MoneyWatch.Com.
Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large for CBS MoneyWatch.Com. She says there's no accusation of malfeasance or intentional kiting of the numbers.
"It appears to be more of the confusion around how to count jobs, rather than someone trying to game - or some organization trying to game - the system. It just seems like there's not a real tight understanding from the recipients of the money and how to count the jobs and what counts as a 'job saved.' Those are the questions that need to be answered..." said Jill Schlesinger.
The White House acknowledges that mistakes were made and are being corrected - they just used the numbers given to them...
Paying the Taliban to Switch Sides?
In the defense bill that President Obama signed yesterday is money to pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency in Afghanistan.
Jere Van Dyk is CBS News Consultant on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jere, what's this provision in the defense bill to pay Taliban fighters money to switch sides?
"The United States - drawing on its success in buying off certain tribes in Anbar Province in Iraq - thinks that by buying off Taliban, they will be able to diminish their ranks," said Jere Van Dyk, CBS News Consultant.
Will that work?
"In the short term, it will work in some cases - and among those young men who are unemployed, who are 'part-time' Taliban fighters, who are not deeply committed. But for those deeply committed - for their commanders, for their leaders - there is no way that they would ever accept money to join any Western force," said Jere Van Dyk.
Why do you say that?
"True Taliban do not accept money, just like the mujahedeen in the 1980s - their grandfathers - never accepted money to fight, only to buy weapons or in any way to further their own cause," said Jere Van Dyk.
And way before that, young Winston Churchill as a young journalist covered the same sort of thing, in the same territory.
"There is a precedent for buying off tribes, for buying off people - for, in effect, 'renting' them. Hence the saying, 'You can always rent an Afghan...' - but most importantly, and this goes back well over a hundred years - "...You can never buy one." You cannot buy his allegiance," said Jere Van Dyk.
Any Taliban taking money would have a hard time, wouldn't he?
"A very difficult time among their peers and among others simply accepting money - which would go against their sense of manhood, their sense of honor, their sense of pride - against their own family, their own traditions - and most importantly, their own religion," said Jere Van Dyk.
So, the bottom line?
"In the short run, some men will come over. It will be successful for some people. In the long run, ultimately will it be successful? Will the United States be able to buy off the Taliban? No," said Jere Van Dyk.
"Black Tuesday" on Wall Street, 80 Years Later.
It was on this day 80 years ago - October 29th, 1929 - "Black Tuesday" - that the stock market crashed - starting a great chain of events, says history professor John Kneebone, connected to Virginia Commonwealth University.
"Black Tuesday 1929 helped to set off the Great Depression, and set in motion forces I think that we can say led directly to World War II. And in the United States, it brought the New Deal and major changes in government," said Prof. John Kneebone, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Seth Glickenhaus remembers that day 80 years ago - he was a messenger on Wall Street.
Now 95, he owns his own firm - and says history has taught him a lot.
"When the Depression hit, people tended to blame themselves rather than the government. Whereas today, the general feeling is that the government can do everything - and it's _their_ fault," said Seth Glickenhaus.
He thinks there's a price for depending too much on government.
"Our deficits are going to be much greater than we think and more money created than people realize - and you're going to have a big inflation into the future," said Seth Glickenhaus.
When he became President, Franklin Roosevelt said "the only thing we had to fear was fear itself." "No," say some people.
"What we have to fear is greed, and greed is what got us into this. It's greed that got the economy into the situation it was in in the late 1920s, and we're seeing that all over the place again..." said Prof. Robert McElvaine of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Professor Robert McElvaine of Milsaps College is one of those professors who thinks a bit of "socialism" would be good for us.
"We need checks and balances in the economic system to get the benefits of capitalism, while curbing some of the dangers. What this boils down to is: Just a spoonful of so-called 'socialism' helps the capitalism go up," said Prof. Robert McElvaine.
A Shoe Giver Comes to the Rescue.
Ever wonder what becomes of some of the people who appear on the TV reality shows?
Blake Mycoskie appeared with his sister on the CBS reality show "Amazing Race" in 2002 - and he hasn't slowed down any.
"Yeah, I think once you start traveling, you don't stop," said Blake Mycoskie.
Blake is now head of a company called Tom's Shoes - not named after anybody named "Tom." CBS News Correspondent Daniel Sieberg explains.
The concept is simple. For every pair of 'Tom's Shoes" that are sold - that's short for 'Tomorrow's Shoes' - the company donates a pair to a child in need, from New Orleans to South Africa. About 300,000 pairs are expected to be given away by year's end," said Daniel Sieberg, CBS News Correspondent.
Daniel Sieberg caught up with Blake Mycoskie in Ethiopia, where he was giving away shoes at a clinic.
"We take it for granted in the U.S. - we have so many shoes. And when you give some of these children a pair of shoes, I mean it is like a prize possession. It's not an accessory. It's a necessity," said Blake Mycoskie.
A father had brought his kids to be fitted.
"You can bet for sure that he has lived a life with great stigma attached to it. And that's why he brought his kids here today to the clinic," said Blake Mycoskie.
Mycoskie calls himself a "social entrepreneur."
"I think the word 'social entrepreneur' is a really good description of what I am," said Blake Mycoskie
"And what does that mean to you?" asked Daniel Sieberg.
"That means to me is that you have the entrepreneurial gift and spirit to create something out of nothing," said Blake Mycoskie.
"So, it's still business?" asked Daniel Sieberg.
"Still a business. But you do it for other reasons than just make a profit. You do it for the social wellbeing and the betterment of whoever you're focusing on," said Blake Mycoskie.
Blake Mycoskie recently gave away most of his belongings and lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles.
"It might sound too good to be true, but the truth is is once you've seen the happiest people in your life who have nothing, you really start rethinking all these things about what the world and society tells us that we need to be happy," said Blake Mycoskie.
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